The Tales of Mia:
by Jay'a and Shiane
Summary: What's life in a house full of Ronins like for Mia? Read and find out! New chapter - Mia gives the gang a list of chores....
1. Default Chapter

Hello, minna-san! This is the first of a series depicting Mia's life of having to live with six crazy teens (and occasionally, one crazy teenage guest). This is also the product of two hyper teens at two in the morning. Well, enough of that, on to the story! Oh yeah, we don't own the Ronin Warriors, blah, blah, blah, you know the drill.

The Tales of Mia or: "I….. Just.…. Live Here." 

"The Bath"

Mia drove up her long driveway towards her house. She had left the guys and Shiane by themselves with Yuli for a few hours so that she could get some shopping in and just have some time to herself. Sometimes, having six teenagers living in her house almost made her crazy.

She pulled up to the house and turned the engine off. She looked out the window and it was several long seconds before she realized that her jaw was hanging open. Mia slowly climbed out of the jeep, trying to comprehend the chaos that she was presented with. There, in the middle of the yard were a soaking wet Ryo of Wildfire and Sage of Halo going at each other as if it were WW III. Their wet clothes clung to their bodies, revealing each boy's rippling muscles. Ryo's wet hair was matted to his head and it sprayed water everytime he moved in to hit Sage. Sage's normally poofy hair, which usually fell over one eye, was now not so poofy and fell in both eyes.

After lingering a moment on Ryo and Sage, Mia's eyes continued to survey the chaos that was her front yard. Just behind Ryo and Sage was a large, white, overturned bathtub. The bubbles that had once been safely inside the tub were now strewn all over the yard. She blinked. Did the tub just move? she thought. She looked harder and sure enough, the edge of the tub came up further to reveal the soapy-wet, reddish-brown head of Cye of Torrent. The wet boy peered fearfully out from his hiding space to WW III going on in front of him and quickly dropped the edge of the tub back down. 

Mia's eyes wandered over to the edge of the forest. There she found a wet, soapy and rather giddy Shiane of Nimbus engaged in one of her all-time favorite activities: duct-taping Yuli to a tree. The boy was doing his best to squirm, but apparently being five feet off the ground and under three –no, four rolls- of duct tape made squirming rather difficult. He wouldn't be getting out of that one for a while. Mia raised an eyebrow. Go Shi.

Finally Mia's eyes rested on the last pocket of chaos. Swinging around a second floor banister, was a wet, soapy, and HYPER Rowen of Strata. Even from way up there, his high-pitched, sugar induced giggles stung at Mia's ears. His shock of blue hair was disheveled and the wind blew more than just the usual unruly lock of hair into his face. Down below, an equally frustrated and wet Kento of Hardrock was doing his best to entice the blue-haired sugar freak down with more (yes more) pixy stix. Due to his lack of success, Kento finally gave up on the pixy stix and began climbing up the banister himself in order to pull the sugar-crazed youth down.

Mia, still dazed from the chaos, turned towards the house, but paused before continuing up the stairs. There, tucked safely away from the chaos was a dry, calm, happy, and serene, though still slightly dirty White Blaze, napping peacefully on the porch coach. As she let herself into the house, Mia sighed and muttered, "I………….. just………. live here."

There! If you liked it (or even if you didn't) Please Review! Oh, new characters and best friends Shiane, Ronin of the Nimbus, and Jay'a, Jedi knight extraordinar, will be introduced in another fic shortly (we hope!). 


	2. The Toaster

Jay'a:Hey everybody! Here's the second of The Tales of Mia. Thank you so much to all of those who reviewed. We love you! :) This one has more dialogue and stuff in it. The other one didn't just 'cause it was the first one in the series. Disclaimer: blah, we don't own these people (except for ourselves of course), blah. Enjoy! 

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**The Tales of Mia: or "I... Just... Live Here" **

"The Toaster"

"Cye!... Cye?... Cyyyyeeee!!!"

"What do you want Rowen, I have to go!"

"Will you toast a bagel for me, pleeeaaassse?" the blue haired boy whined.

"No. Do it yourself. I have to go." Cye headed for the door.

Rowen scratched his head. "Ummm... Cye?"

Cye stopped short, blinked, and finally remembered who he was talking to. "Crap," he muttered. "Fine," he sighed, throwing his swim bag onto a chair. "I'll put it in, but YOU have to get it out. Think you can handle that?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

The two boys walked back through the living room where Ryo was watching T.V. Ryo was watching the screen so intently at the screen that he didn't even notice when Sage came downstairs. 

"Hey Ryo, whatchya doin'?" Sage's brow furrowed at the other boy's silence. Scrunching up his face in determination, Sage decided to try again. 

"RYO!"

Ryo jumped, flinging the remote back at Sage. "Huh?! What? Oh. *sweat drop* Hey Sage. Didn't hear ya come in." Ryo leaned back nonchalantly. 

Sage smirked. "Yeah I noticed. So what are you watching?"

"The Women's World Cup Soccer game that I taped awhile ago."

Sage raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why?"

"Sure."

Silence. Sage rolled his eyes at the juvenile joke. "Why?" he asked finally, slightly annoyed. 

Ryo grinned up at him. "Because at the end when the Americans win, Mia Hamm takes her shirt off."

Sage's eyes (er, um, EYE...) grew wide. "Really?"

"Yup. If you give me the remote back, I'll rewind it again for ya. I've watched it about eight times now."

With half a silly grin, Sage leapt over the back of the couch, settled down next to Ryo, and handed him the remote. After several seconds, Ryo hit play again. They were just getting to the "good" part when Shiane and Jay'a came in. Curiously, they watched as Mia Hamm did indeed take her shirt off

"Alright!!" Ryo and Sage chorused. High fives all around. 

Shiane glared at her boyfriend and crossed her arms. "Ahem!"

"Ahem," Jay'a echoed, though less pointedly and at Ryo.

Both boys turned slowly, fearfully. Sage flashed a nervous smile. "Hi ladies. What brings you here?"

"Hey Jay. Long time, no see," Ryo added carefully.

"Sage, WHAT do you think you're DOING!?"

"Ryo, you oughta be ashamed of yourself."

Silence.

"WELL?!"

Ryo elbowed Sage. "Oh! Um, well, see, Ryo here was watching T.V. and, uh, he sorta threw the remote at me…"

"I did not! YOU scared the crap outta me!"

"Well, you were the one not paying attention. Anyway, I gave him the remote back and he made me sit down!"

"I did NOT! I invited you and YOU leapt over the couch to sit down!"

"But-"

"Can it, Light Boy! I think you, me, and my CAT need to have a little chat session," Shi said.

"But…"

"You too, Pyro. Let's go," Jay'a said.

"But…"

"Move it or lose it, Child."

"But…"

BOOOOOM

In a moment of shock, the four in the living room silently contemplated the noise that shook the house. In a second moment, all four raced the source of the explosion: the kitchen.

At the doorway, they peeked in to see one of the oddest sights one could ever see (though, upon more consideration, it really isn't all that odd). Rowen, in full armor, had taken one of his arrows and appeared to be prying a black crispy bagel out of a now black crispy toaster.

"Rowen!" a horrified Sage cried in all his wisdom, "What are you doing?!"

Startled, Rowen stopped. He looked up at Sage, down at the toaster, and back at Sage. He thought it was quite obvious what he was doing, but he decided to humor his friend. "I'm prying a black crispy bagel out of a black toaster with an arrow." (surprise, surprise) "Why?"

Ryo was about to answer when Shiane stepped forward. She smiled sweetly. "Ro-chan? Sweetie? Hon?"

Rowen swallowed and took an involuntary step backward. Pet names from Shiane were never good.

Jay'a joined her friend. "Rowen. Michael. Hashiba."

Rowen backed up more and hit a wall. Middle names from Jay equaled pet names from Shi.

The girls took another step forward. "You know Child, we came down here specifically to make ourselves some toast," Jay'a said

"And we can't do that now, can we Ro-chan?" Shiane said. Rowen swallowed again and began to babble an incoherent explanation. 

Exchanging a glance of realization, Ryo and Sage slipped out, leaving Rowen to his fate. They silently wondered just how far out of the country they could get before the girls tracked them down...

LATER:

Mia walked up her front steps. She'd just spent a relaxing day with a friend, but she was glad to be back at the house. It was still standing, so that was a good sign. At least it wasn't a horrifically bad sign...

She stepped inside and immediately smelled something odd. She followed the odor to the kitchen. In a corner of the kitchen sat Rowen, duct taped to a chair and whimpering slightly. In the center of the room, Jay'a and Shiane were levitating pieces of bread that were rapidly becoming toast due to Shaine's copper colored lightsaber underneath and Jay'a's yellow lightsaber on top. Mia blinked several times to make sure that this was indeed what she was seeing. It was.

Jay'a looked up and smirked. "I give you one guess."

Shiane looked up and snorted. "Smurf Boy blew up the toaster."

Mia threw a wide-eyed look at Rowen who tried to sink further into his chair. She turned and walked silently from the room. "I... just... live here."

Shiane here! Well, we hoped you liked this installation as much as the last one, if not more. However you felt, please review! Please!!! (me on knees begging)


	3. The Hair Dye

Hola minna! Jay'a here. Again, thanks to everyone who reviewed. Keep the good stuff comin'! (And so will we.) So, here goes, the third installment of The Tales of Mia. Enjoy!

The Tales of Mia or: "I... Just... Live here."

THE HAIR DYE

Rowen was bored. He'd just finished one of his standard three-inch books and wasn't interested in starting another one. He eyed Sage's half of the room. Maybe there was something over there he could play with...

He pulled open Sage's closet and made a face, disgusted at how orderly it was. He remembered the old saying, "A clean closet (or desk or room) is a sign of a sick mind." Rowen dug around until he found the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life. There were lots of them, all different colors, and so light. He reached for the first one, but stopped and for once actually considered the consequences of his actions. He blinked. Ah, screw maturity. Rowen grabbed up the whole lot and devoured every one. Mmm. Colored flavored sugar. His favorite. 

Rowen bounded down the stairs, happy as can be. The others weren't around so he was safe for the moment. He spotted a hall mirror and looked at himself curiously. He started with his unruly lock of blue hair and worked his way down. On a whim, he silently called his blue subarmor and inspected that as well. Rowen felt himself smile. It was a demonic, evil smile. He had an idea. A wonderfully, horribly, hideously, viciously evil idea. But it would be so... much... FUN. He ditched the subarmor and, chemistry student that he was, headed back upstairs to peruse Sage's vast array of hair care products

* * * * * * * * * * 

Ryo came into the house followed by White Blaze. Ryo knelt and scratched the tiger under the chin and behind the ears. "It's nice to be able to play without Yuli hangin' around, isn't boy?" Ryo said.

White Blaze purred contentedly. Why won't you let me eat him? I'm sure he's lean and healthy.

Ryo patted the tiger once more, sending him into the living room. Ryo walked through the hall to the kitchen. He stopped short and tensed. He shifted his eyes to the left. The shadow moved again. 

"Hiya Ryo."

Ryo nearly jumped out of his skin. "Rowen! Jeez, ya tryin' ta give me a heart attack? What the hell are you doing?"

"Ohh... nuthing'."

Ryo backed away. "Uh, right. I'm just gonna go back to the living room, 'kay?" He turned away, but Rowen tapped him on the shoulder. "Wha - mmppfff!!"

It was over in seconds. Ryo didn't even know what hit him until he was being dragged into the kitchen by Rowen who was giggling all the way. Ryo's mouth, arms, hands, legs, and feet were completely covered in duct tape. 

Rowen plunked Ryo down in a chair and patted his head. "Now just relax. This won't hurt a bit!" He fingered Ryo's thick black hair and mumbled something about extra time.

Ryo eyed all the strange bottles on the kitchen counter and became very afraid as something cold and wet hit his scalp.

* * * * * * * * * *

"There! Done!" Rowen exclaimed after half an hour of squirming, muffled screaming, and nonsense chattering. Rowen stood back to admire his work. "It looks so cool! Wanna see?"

Ryo shook his head violently but Rowen left anyway, and returned with a mirror. He held it up for Ryo. "Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!" Ryo wriggled in fury. His hair was RED. Not a normal red-head red, but bright red. Red like his armor red. "Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!"

"Isn't it great?" Rowen cried gleefully. "Now you have red hair and red armor just like I have blue hair and blue armor! Isn't it great!"

"Mmmmmmmmmmm!!!"

* * * * * * * * * *

White Blaze, who'd been listening to the events in the kitchen, looked up as Rowen skipped into the living room. The tiger growled at the sugar-hyped freak. He backflipped and changed into Black Blaze, sans the armor. 

Rowen's face fell. Darn. The cat could already change color. Oh well. There were still three more victims waiting for him. He grinned and skipped away. 

The tiger changed back to himself and settled down again, mentally thanking Saberstryke for all he was worth.

* * * * * * * * * *

Rowen peered out from the bushes while he munched on a Crunch bar. Kento and Cye were playing a little one-on-one basketball. That was okay. He could wait. He took another bite of the savory chocolate.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ryo finally gave up struggling. Rowen had wrapped the duct tape pretty tight. he heard the front door slam and Kento's voice wafted through the house. 

"Hello? Hey, where is - oh hey Ro. What are you-.."

Ryo closed his eyes. He heard a thump, a crash, and several muffled screams. Ryo opened his eyes a minute later to see Rowen dragging in Kento, similarly duct taped.

Kento took one horrified look at Ryo. "Mmmmmmmmmm!!!"

* * * * * * * * * *

Ryo pitied Kento. He really did. The screams had died down to pathetic whimpers, barely audible under Rowen's chattering. The whole process had taken about twenty minutes. Ryo figured he'd looked much the same, squirming about, duct taped to a chair. Ryo sighed mentally as one more muffled scream came when Rowen excitedly showed Kento the fruits of his work: orange hair. Ryo wondered how long it would take for the other two to join them. 

Ryo didn't have long to wait. Having been waiting outside for nearly half an hour, Cye came in looking for Kento. "Kento, where are you, you big oaf? You better not be eating my cheesecake!"

Rowen's eyes lit up as he grabbed a roll of duct tape and ran to meet his latest victim. 

Ryo closed his eyes again. He'd close his ears too, if he knew how. More thumps and crashes resounded from the living room. Bodies hit the floor and then the yelling started.

"Cye, hold still!"

"Get off me, you blue-haired freak!"

"But-.."

"Shut up!"

"Gotcha!"

"Are you crazy, you *&#@*&%*#~@^&!...!"

Ryo and Kento exchanged a raised eyebrow look. Between the English and the Japanese, Cye was extremely... inventive. 

The yelling, tousling, and cursing continued for several more minutes, much to Ryo's dismay. And then all of a sudden - it stopped. And silence reigned. Ryo and Kento waited for several long, agonizing, silent seconds. But finally Rowen emerged dragging a violently squirming Cye behind him. Both had several bruises and Rowen had the beginnings of a black eye. 

Rowen brought Cye around to a prepared chair and reached for another roll of duct tape. 

"Mmmmmmmmmmmm!!!"

Having spotted Ryo and Kento, Cye managed to squirm out of Rowen's grasp and landed with a loud thump on the floor, causing Kento and Ryo to wince in pain for their friend. 

Rowen scratched his head. "How did he do that?" He looked down on the floor and burst out laughing. "Look! It's Cye, the Aquatic Inchworm!"

Even Kento and Ryo would have to admit - much, MUCH later of course - that it was pretty funny. Duct taped as he was, Cye was on his side scooting across the floor in an effort to get away. Neither Ryo nor Kento dared look at the other, for fear that they'd tip their chairs over from laughing so hard. Then Cye'd really be mad. 

Still giggling hysterically, Rowen picked Cye up around the middle and slung him over his shoulder. He plunked Cye in the chair and got to work. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Forty-five minutes of duct tape muffled screaming later (Cye squirmed a lot), Rowen finally finished. Without bothering to show Cye the mirror (he wouldn't have looked anyway), Rowen left. Cye heaved a huge sigh of relief and finally relaxed and calmed down. 

It was at this moment that all three boys realized the same thing: Rowen still had one more victim out there. And it was quite well known just how... protective Sage was of his hair. 

The million-dollar question: Will the blonde warrior of light be the savior, or will he fall like the rest?

* * * * * * * * * *

A blue topped streak stole from tree to tree. Rowen had finally found him doing homework in the forest. Duct tape in hand he moved closer... closer...

"Hey, Ro," Sage said casually. 

Rowen jumped back. Damn. He should've known it wouldn't be that easy. 

"Hey Ro, could you c'mere and help me a sec?" Sage asked.

Rowen grinned. Perfect. "Sure." Closer... closer...

* * * * * * * * * *

Shiane and Mia came up the stairs, still singing the last song that had been on the radio. ("If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain...") They entered the house with two of many grocery bags, intending to ask the guys for help. They walked into the kitchen.

Mia nearly dropped her bag in shock. Off to the side, Ryo, Kento, and Cye were all duct taped to chairs with red, orange, and light blue hair, respectively. 

On the other side, Rowen, with his naturally blue hair, hung upside down from the ceiling completely covered in duct tape except for his eyes, nose, and hair. Standing next to him was an extremely pissed off Sage - with green hair. Sage glared at Rowen and fidgeted with his baseball bat.

Shiane had partially recovered herself. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you. She mentally praised every god that was ever even considered to have existed. Thank you for it being my turn to go grocery shopping. 

She walked over to Cye, hoping he'd give her a coherent explanation. She carefully removed the duct tape from his mouth. Unbound, the furious cursing unleashed itself once again onto the hapless ears of all. Shiane quickly replaced the duct tape. 

Mia calmly set her bag on the table and turned to leave. "I... just... live here."

Hey, Shiane here! Thank Kami I wasn't there! I would NOT look good with light green hair. (It's kiwi! Sorry, inside joke.) Hope you all have been enjoying Mia's life! We're absolutely greedy for reviews so like Jay'a said, keep them coming! We love you all!


	4. More Hair Dye

Hey minna!! Jay'a here! For those of you that have reviewed, WE LOVE YOU! Anyhoo, this is not a song fic, there are just a lot of songs in it. They have nothing to do with the story, I just think they're cool. In order, the songs are: "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith, "Better Days" by Citizen King, "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin. "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" by Pink Floyd, "Jaded" by Aerosmith, "Affirmation" by Savage Garden, "Sparkle" by Phish, "I'll Be There for You" by the Rembrants, and "The Saga Begins" by Weird Al. Whew! You don't think I over did it, do you? Hm. Better get to the story 'fore you guys get bored. Enjoy!

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The Tales of Mia or: "I... Just... Live Here."

"More Hair Dye"

Rowen slunk in through the back door. He'd just seen Jay'a go in so maybe with her and Shiane there they wouldn't hurt him. Maybe. 

He took one careful step after another and peered into the living room. Ryo and Kento were watching Sage and Cye play a rather violent game of Mortal Kombat on the Play Station while Jay'a and Shiane sat on the couch and talked. He walked in. "Hey guys." 

"Hey Ro," Jay'a said quickly before turning away to hide her grin. 

"You know, I'm really sorry about the other day," Rowen said awkwardly. The game on the floor became more violent. Kento threw Rowen a sympathetic glance but didn't dare say anything. 

Jay'a glanced over the situation and said, "You know, maybe it's not all his fault."

"How the hell do you figure that?" Cye growled.

"Well, my understanding of the situation is that he dyed everyone's hair the color of their armor, which is fairly obvious 'cause I can still see some green on Sages's head .."

"Shut up!"Jay'a recoiled a bit. "Uh, yeah, well, anyway, to do something that stupid he'd have to be really hyper, which means pixie stix." She looked at Shi. "Now where do you suppose he got pixie stix?"

"Sure as hell wasn't from my room." She thought about it. "Kento?"

"Uh uh, no way, not me. I hide chocolate, but definitely not pixie stix."

Jay'a looked up. "Where'd jya get 'em from Ro?"

He shrugged noncommittally. "Dunno."

"Come on. You can tell me. Just whisper it."

There was a moment of silence, then, "Oh my God!" and Jay'a fell of the couch laughing. 

"What? Tell me!" Shi said.

"Oh my God, that is sooo too funny! Is that true?" Rowen nodded. "Oh my God, Shi c'mere!" She whispered to Shiane who promptly fell off the couch. 

Finally, Sage couldn't take it. He whipped around to face the two girls cracking up on the floor. "It is not that funny!"

Ryo looked up with interest. "You mean he got pixie stix out of your room?" 

Cye glared at Sage, the game forgotten. "I had blue hair because YOU hid pixie stix?!"

"It's not my fault!" Sage yelled back. 

"Like hell –"

"What a great idea!" Shiane yelled, completely ignoring the developing fight. 

"Dude, Sage, Cye shut up. You guys gotta hear this great idea," Jay said. 

"Ro, tell 'em your idea."

"I don't wanna hear it," Cye said, folding his arms. 

"Trust us, you'll like it," Shi said. "Don't you trust us?" Jay'a and Shiane gave him puppy dog faces. 

"Well, yeah, I do..."

"Great, here's the plan," Jay'a said. "We're gonna have some fun with the Warlords." She grinned. "And hair dye."

"Why are we dying the Warlords' hair?" Ryo asked. 

"Call it a peace offering idea." She nodded to Sage and Cye. 

"Ah, I see."

"I think we'll need some inside help on this one though," Shiane said. "I'll be back," She added, Arnold Schwarzenegger style.

_____________________________

"... So that's the basic idea," Jay'a finished explaining to Kayura.

"Sounds like fun to me. The four of them have been really annoying lately."

"So how are we gonna split up and do this?" Ryo asked. 

Shiane shrugged. "Um, I dunno. Who wants to work with Rowen?" Rowen's face fell when no one answered. "Right, well –"

"Hey Shi," Sage said, "Can Cye and I work together? We just got a really good idea."

"Sure. Who do you want?"

"Cale."

"Dude! I just got the coolest idea for Sehkmet! Can I work by myself?"

"Yeah, sure Jay'a - Oh my God, I just had the best idea for Dais. Kento, you're going to love this. You, me and Rowen. Oh yeah, this is perfect."

"So that leaves Anubis for Ryo and Kayura. You two all good by that?"

Kayura grinned. "I have a couple of possible ideas."

"Great. Let's get our stuff and go."

_________________________________

The four teams (Sage and Cye, Jay'a, Ryo and Kayura, and Kento, Shiane, and Rowen) bustled about as they prepared to start their projects. Cye eyed the Warlords. "Did we really have to knock them out?" he asked. 

"Would you really want Cale awake while we did this?" Sage countered.

"No, I guess not, but couldn't we have just duct taped them or something?"

"The duct taped ones squirm too much," Rowen said pointedly. Cye stuck his tongue out. 

"Cye, get your tongue back in your mouth," Shiane said.

"He started it."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did –"

"Chitlen!" Jay'a yelled. "Calm yourselves," she said. 

"Hey Jay'a," Kento said, "how 'bout some tunes?"

"Good call. What do you guys want?"

"None of that chick stuff." Ryo made a face.

Shiane turned to him indignantly. "And just what qualifies as "chick stuff"?" 

"You know, chick stuff..."

"Whatever Ryo." Jay'a stopped Shiane from attacking Ryo for his comment, then disappeared. She returned a few minutes later with a CD player and a stack of CDs. "This should hold us for a while." Soon everyone was singing along.

"... Walk this way, talk this way..."

"... I've seen better days, I been the star of many plays. I've seen better days..."

"... Sunny came home to her favorite room. Sunny sat down in the kitchen..."

Everyone was working diligently. Shiane glanced over to see what Jay'a was up to. "Uh oh." Jay'a grinned and they both started cracking up. "Jay'a's gone dot-happy again!" [AN: Sorry, inside joke.]

"Hey now, I like dots!"

Kayura looked over. "JayÕa that looks so cool!"

The guys all shrugged at each other. Girls sure could be weird sometimes. 

"Hey Kayura, what're you up to?" 

"Check it out."

"Dude, I didn't even think that was possible."

"That is so cool."

"Great job you two!"

"Cye, Sage, that's gonna look awesome when you're done," Kento said.

"Yes it will, won't it." Sage said proudly.

"I like what you're doing with Dais. We're definitely gonna have to send pictures to Mina and the girls.""Hey Shi, do you have the little white feather thingys that go with that," Jay'a asked.

"Yep, got 'em right here. Hey where's the hair gel?"

"I think Sage and Cye used it all," Rowen said.

"Oh. Of course."

"Guys shut up, I like this song."

We don't need no education.

We don't need no thought control.

No dark sarcasm in the classroom.

Teacher leave them kids alone.

Hey teacher - leave them kids alone.

All in all it's just another brick in the wall.

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

"That's such a good song," Cye said when the song ended and the next one began.

"I know, I love Pink Floyd" Jay'a said.

"Aerosmith's more my style though," commented Shi.

"... My my baby blue, Yeah I'm thinkin' 'bout you, my my baby blue. Yeah you're so Jaded, and I'm the one that Jaded you..."

"... I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned..."

"Whoa, whoa guys shut up a sec," Jay'a said. "You have to listen to this song. It's so weird."

The pressure builds.

You buy a gift.

You're hoping that your dread will lift.

It glitters on her like a glass.

You shudder as it comes to pass.

Apologize, to Luce and Lil.

Converse with Ed, a drive with Jill.

Your friends confine you in their worlds, 

One by one, a string of pearls.

Confused you say.

This isn't me.

You hover in their unity.

Ashamed you slowly lose your grasp, 

Release the links, undo the clasp.

The skin that drips down, off the tree,

Or peals back slowly, from your knee, 

Erupts into your, lung and heart, 

You laugh and laughing...

Fall apart.

Laughing laughing fall apart,

Laughing laughing fall apart,

Laughing laughing fall apart,

Laughing laughing fall apart,

Laughing laughing fall apart,

Laughing laughing fall apart,

Laughing laughing fall apart, (etc. etc. five more times w/ a break between the fourth and fifth chorus to get faster)

"Jay'a, that is a truely bizarre song," Sage said.

"Yeah, but it's cool though, isn't it?"

"I guess..."

"... Still in bed at ten, work began at eight. Burned you're breakfast, so far, things are going great..."

"... Oh my my, this here Anakin guy, May be Vader some day later - now he's just a small fry..."

____________________

"So when do you think they're gonna show up?" Kayura asked from the love seat in Mia's living room.

Sage checked his watch. "Shouldn't be too long now. Where'd Shi and Jay go? They'll miss it."

"I think they went to get the video camera and the polaroid," Ryo answered as he absently stroked White Blaze.

"Hey, we're back! Did we miss anything?"

"Nope, they're not here yet."

"Cool." Shiane, with the video camera, stationed herself in one corner, while Jay'a took the polaroid to another corner.

As soon as they were settled, the front door opened and slammed shut. "Kayura!" Anubis yelled. "Are you here?"

"In the living room," she replied as nonchalantly as possible.

Shiane and Jay'a readied themselves. The Warlords didn't even notice them as they charged into the living room, Anubis dragging along a babbling, incoherent Dais, and Sehkmet pulling Cale, who was on the verge of tears.

"Kayura, we were viciously attacked earlier today!"

She took one look at Anubis's yellow plaid hair and suddenly became very interested in her fingernails. "Oh really?" she said, trying to hide her smile.

"Yes! Look at what they did to us! Look at Cale! He's almost in tears!"

Sage caught Cale's glance and nodded appreciatively at his hair - an exact duplicate of Sage's own. "I like the style Cale. It's very well done. A big improvement." He grinned and just couldn't resist. "I couldn't have done a better job myself."

That was it. Cale lost it. He burst into tears. "I look like Halo!" he wailed. 

White Blaze, now thoroughly disturbed from his nap and just plain disgusted by the whole affair, got up to leave. He was almost in the clear when Dais spotted him.

"Pegasus! My friend!"

White Blaze stared in horror as the one eyed man - with pink meatballs? - slipped out of Anubis's grasp and ran for him. The white tiger barely had enough time to charge outside before Anubis grabbed hold of Dais again. 

"Kayura, this is a disaster," Sehkmet said. "Look at me, I have pastel polka dots all over my head!"

Kayura looked him over with feigned sincerity. "Hm. So you do."

"At least you can still see your natural hair color." Cale sniffled.

"Shut up."

"RYO!!!" Slam.

Ryo jumped and fell over the side of his chair. "Wha - what was that?!"

They heard Mia come through the hallway. "Ryo, I thought you were going to teach that tiger of yours to behave! He almost just ran me ...oh ...ver..." Mia stared into her living room: Jay'a in one corner, a mass of polaroids developing at her feet; Shiane in another corner with the video camera; the guys and Kayura lounging on the furniture; and the Warlords in the middle, Anubis with yellow plaid hair, Sehkmet with cotten candy colored dots all over his green hair, Dais the Sailor Mini Moon look-alike complete with the little white feather thingys, and Cale the Sage look-alike. Mia threw her arms up in defeat and left the room. "I... just... live here."

  
____________________________________________

Shiane here! Well, that's the last of The Tales of Mia. . . so far! We hope you all enjoyed reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them!!! Once again, please review. The more reviews we get, the more likely there is to be a sequel! 


	5. 

Here it is

Here it is! The long-awaited fifth Tales of Mia! You know, I kinda feel bad for the guys in this one... :) Anyhoo, as long as you're paying attention to me right now, lemme just say, when you're done reading this, go read The Challenge. It's on the second or third page, it's by us, and it's the first of the Carry-Over series. Enjoy all!

****

The Tales of Mia or: "I... Just... Live Here."

The Loooong Night

(3 p.m. - Saturday)

Riiiiinnngg.

Ryo picked up the phone. "Moshi, moshi?... Oh, hi Mia... What?... Where?... Alright... Well, when are you coming home?... Huh, not till tomorrow, okay... Don't worry... Don't worry... We'll be fine... Okay, okay, your house will be fine... Mia, don't be such a worry-wort... I know... I know... We'll stay out of trouble, I promise... Yeah, right... Yep, see ya tomorrow... Bye!" Ryo hung up the phone.

"Woo hoo!" Ryo leapt in the air. "Yes, yes, yes! Hey guys! Guess what?!..."

(midnight)

"Well, this sucks," Ryo said. He was lying on the couch, legs draped over the arm.

"No kidding," Jay'a said. "I thought we were gonna do something cool." She was sitting on the other end of Ryo's couch playing with his hair with her feet.

"What, playing with my hair isn't cool enough for you?"

"Ha. Funny."

"Ow!" Sage rubbed his shoulder where Rowen's dozing head had smacked him again. He poked his blue-haired friend. "Hey Ro, wake up."

"Mmm."

"Go to bed. Either that or get the heck off me." He shoved Rowen to the other side of the couch.

"Oww." Rowen yawned. "'Kay. Goin'." He got up and proceeded to half sleep walk up the stairs.

"Where's Shiane?" Sage asked.

"I think she's in the kitchen," Kento said. "Here she comes."

Shiane came into the room with two mugs in her hands. She handed one to Jay'a and whispered to her, then took her own mug and claimed Rowen's vacated seat. Jay'a took a sip from her mug. "Whoo!" she yelped, rubbing at her nose.

"What did you do?" Kento asked.

"The fizz went up my nose!" she whined.

"What are you drinking anyway?" Cye asked.

"Oh this?" Jay'a said, still rubbing her nose. "It's um..." Shiane coughed slightly. "Seltzer! Yeah, ya know, the raspberry kind. And the fizz from the seltzer, this raspberry seltzer, went straight up my nose." She shook her head. "Not fun." She tried vainly to hide a smile, but ended up grinning. Shiane burst out laughing.

Cye rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He yawned and stood up. "I'm going to bed guys. See ya tomorrow."

"Hey wait, I'm coming up with you. See ya later guys." Kento waved as he followed Cye up the stairs.

Now only Sage, Ryo, Shiane, and Jay'a were left.

"Ryo, your party's a flop," Sage said.

"But it was such a good idea," Ryo whined. "Ya know, with Mia not home and everything..."

Suddenly Jay'a and Shiane burst out laughing. "I don't see what's so funny about it," Ryo pouted.

"Yeah, what is so funny?" Sage asked them. But they ignored him and continued to laugh only stopping for a couple of seconds at a time. 

"I don't think they're laughing at you," Sage said. "I think they're having one of their little telepathic conversations just to exclude us." Sage got up and pulled Ryo off the couch. "Come on. We might as well go to bed."

"Oh alright," Ryo said. "Hopefully they'll go to bed soon too." Ryo and Sage disappeared up the stairs.

I thought they'd never leave! Shiane thought to Jay'a, still laughing.

You are such a genius! Jay'a thought back. Mountain Dew and Pepsi! Oh Yeah!

"So what do we do now?" Shiane asked.

"Oh, it is most definitely Raid-the-Fridge time."

"Onward to the kitchen!" Shiane cried.

"And neither wind nor rain –"

"- nor little Ronin boys –"

"- shall stand in our way!"

"Onward!" they chorused.

(an hour later...)

"What the heck are you two still doing up?" a sleepy-eyed Ryo asked, poking his head into the kitchen.

"Oh, hi Ryo!" Jay'a said brightly, bouncing in her chair. "We're just getting a snack! Want some?"

"Guys, go to bed."

"But we're not tired!" Shiane said, also bouncing in her chair. She took another sip from her mug.

Ryo frowned. "What are you drinking?"

"Um... raspberry seltzer?" she said hopefully and Jay'a cracked up.

Ryo had a sinking feeling that it wasn't seltzer at all, but he was too tired to argue so he let it go. "Whatever. Just go to bed, okay?" he said, leaving.

"'Kay!" they called after him. Eventually, they thought to each other.

(later...)

"Hey Jay! Didjya find it?" Shiane yelled.

"Nope! Not here! Any luck on your end?" Jay'a called back.

"Nope! What now?"

"I thought I told you two to go to bed!"

"I KNOW you did Ryo," Jay'a said, bouncing up to him, "but –"

"- but we can't find our room!" Shiane finished.

Ryo rubbed his forehead. Pepsi and Mountain Dew, he thought. Had to be. "Your room," he said slowly, "is UPSTAIRS."

Both girls simultaneously stopped bouncing and let their jaws drop and their eyes get wide. They looked at each other, back to Ryo, and back to each other. "Ohhh Yeahhh!!!" they cried, almost sing-songily and collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Ryo sighed and trudged back up the stairs to his own room.

(still later...)

"Dude, I can't believe how much cool stuff is up here!" Jay'a said.

Shiane pawed through a box of junk. "I know! I wonder what Mia used all this weird junk for?" She held up some strangely shaped coils and peered at them. "Of course, it probably isn't Mia's stuff at all. It was probably her grandfather's stuff."

"Good call, my hyper friend. Good call."

"What are you two doing NOW?!"

"But Ryo, you said –"

"- our room was upstairs!"

Ryo smacked himself in the forehead. "Not in the ATTIC!"

"Ohhh Yeahhh!!!"

"Now go downstairs and GO. TO. BED."

(yet later...)

"Okay!" Jay'a said putting on her best pouty face. "Ryo is definitely losing it."

"Yeah," Shiane said with a pouty face to match. "Our room is most definitely NOT downstairs."

"You'd think he'd know this house by - Hiya Ryo!"

"Why are you back downstairs?" he almost growled.

"But Ryo," Shiane said, "you SAID it was –"

"- and we've looked everywhere –"

"- Twice! –"

"- and it just isn't here!"

"Your room," he said, "is on the SECOND floor. With the rest of us!"

Long Pause.

"Ohhh Yeahhh!!!"

(only slightly later...)

Jay'a clapped her hands. "Alright! Second floor, right, got it!"

Shiane studied the line of doors before her. "But which one do ya s'pose it is?" she asked.

Jay'a fell silent for a moment. "Aw dude, I didn't even think of that." She giggled. "So what do we do now?"

Shiane grinned. "On three. Ready? One, two, three."

"RYO!!!"

"Go to bed!" he yelled back from his room.

"But where is it?"

Silence.

"Hm," Shiane said. "We'll just have to try every door till we find it."

"Good call."

They threw open the first door on their left. "What are you doing?" Sage groaned.

"Sage!" Shiane cried. "We can't find our room –"

"- so will you make a light for us?"

"You know it doesn't work that way," Sage said from under his covers.

"Oh. Then can we stay in here?" Shiane asked hopefully.

"No! Go to bed already."

"Well fine. Be that way," Shiane pouted. They started to walk out. 

Wait a sec, Sage thought. I just told my girlfriend she couldn't sleep in my room... "Shiane! Wait!"

"Too late! Buh-bye now!" The door slammed shut.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. 

"Hey Sage?" a barely awake Rowen asked. "What's that noise?"

"Me. Hitting. My head. On the. Wall."

"Oh. Okay. G'night."

Out in the hallway, Jay'a and Shiane bounded down the hall to the next door and threw it open. "It's, it's, it's... Kento and Cye's room! Yea!"

"Dude, check it out, they not yelling at us."

"They're prob'ly just ignoring us."

"Yeah. Too bad your boyfriend isn't that smart."

"I know! I can't believe he kicked us out!"

"Yeah, but he's sorry he did now, though."

"No kidding. Well, on to the next room!"

"On to the next room!!"

They skipped down the hall and flung the door open. "Hiya Ryo!"

"Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

"Nope!"

"No idea!"

"Go to bed, damn it!"

"But we can't find our room."

"You're Jedi! Sense it, or use your lightsabers as flashlights, or something! I don't care! Just go to bed!"

They blinked. "Ohhh Yeahhh!!! What a great idea!" They flung the door shut and disappeared, only to reappear a moment later. 

They ignighted the lightsabers and the hum pierced through the silent night. They grinned at each other. "Next room!"

"Next room!" Jay'a reached for the doorknob, but Shiane stopped her.

"Wait, wait, wait. This is Mia's room."

"Oh, hey, yeah, good call," Jay'a said, pulling her hand away.

Another door slammed. They turned around to find Ryo standing in the hallway. "You can tell that's Mia's room, but you can't find your own damn room?!" 

"But it's Mia's room!"

"She isn't even here!" he cried.

"Yeah but... it's MIA'S room!"

"GO. TO. BED!!!" Ryo retreated into his room, the girls sticking their tongues out at his back. 

Jay'a sighed and turned, her lightsaber accidentally knocking into Shiane's. Their faces brightened. "We should practice!" they cried. "En garde!" A mock duel started outside Ryo's door and continued for a good five minutes until...

"WHAT! ARE! YOU! DOING?!"

"We're practicing," Jay'a said matter-of-factly. 

"It's nearly four in the morning! Practice later! Bed now!" Slam!

"Aw man. So what do we do now?" 

"Keep lookin' I guess. Onward!"

They crept passed Mia's room and flung open the next door. Shiane flipped on the light. They breathed in breaths of wonder. "We found it," Shiane whispered.

"It's the Great Valley!" Jay'a said, cracking up.

"That was a good movie! 'Cept the sequals were really dumb and retarded."

"Yeah, singing dinosaurs just don't do it for me. Hey, we should tell the guys we found it."

"Good call."

They stuck their heads out in the hallway. "Hey guys! We found it!"

"GOOD!!" five voices yelled back in unison. 

(3 p.m. - Sunday)

Mia walked into the house, a duffle bag slung over her shoulder. The house was still here, so that was a good sign. She walked upstairs to put her bag away, but stopped outside Ryo's door. "What the hell..." She eyed the burn and slash marks all over the door. "What happened here?" She threw her bag in her room and headed downstairs to the kitchen. 

She stepped into the kitchen. On one side of the table was a sleepier than normal Rowen, a more lethargic than normal Cye, and a less hungry than usual Kento. On the other side sat Sage, who had a large purple bruise on his forehead, and Ryo, who had large dark circles under his eyes. "What...?" she started to ask, when a noise from upstairs cut her off.

A perkier than normal Jay'a and Shiane came bounding into the kitchen. "Hi guys! Hi Mia!"

"We're goin' out," Shiane said. "See ya later!" and they bounded out the door.

Mia eyed them as they left then turned back to the guys, who all gave her pitiful looks. Mia held up her hands. "I... just... live here."

*************************

Shiane here! Like Jay'a said, I hope ya'll enjoyed it! We've been kinda busy lately – we've been working on our new website. There's not much now but when it's finished we hope you'll visit! Jay'a's also working on her own on a Ronin origins story. Parts 1-5 should be posted soon so be sure to keep an eye out for it! 


	6. The Chores

TOM – Chores

TOM – Chores

Hey minna! Here it is! The sixth Tales of Mia. Hope you all enjoy and keep the reviews comin'! Ja ne! --Jay'a

The Tales of Mia or : "I... Just... Live Here."

The Chores

"Okay people, listen up." Mia turned sharply to face her pinstraight line of troops. "I'm going out today," she continued, as she slowly began to pace before them, "and I want you bunch of freeloaders to have this house spotless and beautiful by the time I get back."

"Hey, does that mean we have to get rid of Kento too?" Sage asked. "Because you know he really is kind of an eyesore –"

"Hey, you wanna fat lip Pretty Boy?"

"Kento!" Mia barked. "You can beat Sage later. Outside. After the house gets clean. Ryo!"

"Ma'am!" Ryo threw her a mock salute. 

"Don't get smart. Your job will be dusting. The paper towels are in the kitchen and the Pledge is under the sink. Can you handle it?"

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"

"Sage!"

"Mmmm?"

"Your job will be cleaning the bathrooms."

"The bathrooms! Why do I have to clean the bathrooms?"

"Because you're the one who always leaves a mess in there after your daily two hour stint. Rowen!"

Rowen yawned. Ten o'clock was way too early in the morning for him.

"Rowen, are you paying attention?" He nodded sleepily. "You'll be doing laundry."

Rowen snapped his eyes open. "As in everyone's laundry?"

"Kento!" she continued, ignoring Rowen's question. "Can I trust you to clean the kitchen?"

Kento's eyes lit up as everyone else exchanged wary glances. Was Mia really with it this morning? "You can count on me!" Kento said brightly. 

"Shiane and Cye!"

"Yes?" Cye said as Shiane slowly looked up to give Mia a half asleep, half annoyed look. She was not so much a morning person either. 

"You two will be vacuuming. One upstairs, one downstairs." She stopped pacing a moment and faced the six teenagers. "Everyone got what they're doing?"

"Hey wait a sec," Ryo said. "What about Jay'a? How come she doesn't have a job?" He motioned to the brunette who was lounging on the couch drinking a Pepsi and had thus far been silent.

Mia narrowed her eyes at Ryo and stepped up to be nose to nose with him. "Because," she said, "unlike you, she's only here on occasional weekends. Unlike you, she's not a freeloader. Unlike you, she's responsible." Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Unlike you, she is a guest and guests do not do chores. Hence, she will be supervising." Ryo raised the other eyebrow. Mia smiled. "'Kay?"

Ryo blinked. "Ooookaaay."

* * * * * * * *

On the couch in the living room, Jay'a set down her pen and notebook and checked her watch. "Two hours!" she exclaimed. "I got them started two hours ago?" She paused a moment. "It's entirely too quiet here. I'd better check on everyone."

Jay'a got up and headed upstairs first. She peered at the bathroom door and scrunched up her face. She knocked. "Sage? Are you in there?"

There was a yelp and a couple of crashes. "Uh, yeah, um... yeah."

Jay'a opened the door to find Sage quickly picking up gel bottles, hair spray bottles, and combs. "Sage! Have you been primping for two hours?"

Sage checked his watch and looked at her sheepishly. "Um, well, not EXACTLY two hours, um..."

Jay'a smacked herself in the forehead. "I knew I should have checked on everyone earlier."

She was about to say more but the faint sound of cussing immediately drowned out by the vacuum cleaner caught her ear. She opened her mouth then closed it again and looked at Sage, who merely shrugged. "You stay here," she said pointing a finger at Sage, and left for the source: Sage and Rowen's room.

Jay'a started to knock but thought better of it and opened the door a crack and peeked in. Cocking her head to the side, she watched as Cye tried to violently vacuum through a large pile of... stuff. Rowen's stuff, Jay'a noted silently. Slipping in and shutting the door behind her, Jay'a cleared her throat for Cye's attention. "Cye... what are you - doing?"

Cye looked at her wide-eyed. "I can't take it! I have to deal with Kento's mess in my room EVERY DAY! And now I have to clean HIS mess! I can't do it!"

Jay'a licked her lips as she thought of what to say. "Yes, well, um... don't – don't you think it would be easier if - if you would put all the stuff on the bed first and then vacuum? Because I - I really don't think the vacuum is going to pick up, uh," she looked at the pile, "shirts, boxers, and three-inch text books."

Cye blinked then shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's broken anyway," he said calmly.

"Is it?" Jay'a knelt down and inspected the underside of the vacuum. Broken my butt, she thought. It's probably just jammed from sucking up so much crap. She felt around the rotating brushes and slightly raised an eyebrow as she pulled out a small object. Jay'a rolled her eyes and mentally shook her head. It was a dark blue, marble sized sphere that glowed. She stuffed it in her pocket and stood up. "I fixed it."

"Huh?" Cye hadn't been paying attention. "What do you mean you fixed it?"

"Just that. Have you done the whole floor yet?"

"'Cept for the bathroom and the computer room. Sage holed himself up –"

"I've been."

"- and Ryo kicked me out of the other room. He's fondling swords again."

"Riiiiiiight. I guess I know where my next stop is. Don't suck up anymore crap." Cye snorted as Jay'a left the room.

Jay'a proceeded down the hall to Mia's computer room where she poked her head in to see Ryo sitting on a table... fondling a sword. "Yo bud. What happened to dusting?" 

Ryo sniffed but didn't look up. "Nothin'."

Jay'a hopped upon the table next to him. "S'matter?"

"See this sword?"

"Yeah."

"It's a really nice sword."

"Yeah." Jay'a wondered where this was going. 

"It's nicer than my swords."

Oh great, Ryo's gonna have a temper tantrum, Jay'a thought.

"It's even nicer than my Soul Swords! I want my swords to be as nice as this one Jay'a! Why aren't they Jay'a, why? I want them to be! It isn't fair Jay, it just isn't fair!"

"Whoa Ryo, calm down!" Jay'a said holding her hands up. "Your swords are nice. And hey, they can blow stuff up. How cool is that?"

Ryo sniffed again. "I guess."

Jay'a patted him on the back. "I'm gonna go check on everyone else and then come back later, okay?"

"'Kay."

Jay'a left the room and headed back downstairs to the kitchen. She looked inside and shook her head as she eyed the small smorgasbord in front of Kento. "Hey Kento," she said with a wry smile, "having fun?"

"Mm! Mmeya Mmay'a! Wamphf fum?"

Jay'a burst into giggles. She shifted her eyes around trying to hide a grin. 

"Hmmmm... okay but don't tell anyone." She sat down next to Kento and swiped a pickle from the jar. "Yer s'possed ta be workin', ya know."

Kento swallowed. "Oh yeah? And how much work have you done, Miss Supervisor? I saw ya writin' in you little notebook."

Jay'a swiped another pickle. "I was making notes on everyone," she replied with mock haughtiness. 

Kento snorted. "Yeah, you were makin' notes an' I was scrubbin' the floor with a toothbrush."

"Yeah, well, ya might wanna do it again," Jay'a said peering at the floor. "It doesn't look very clean to me."

"Ha ha." Kento stuck his tongue out and Jay'a replied in like fashion.

"Have you done any work?"

"Jay, lemme ask you a question."

"Shoot." Jay'a took another pickle.

"Why do you suppose Mia put me in the kitchen?"

"Certainly wasn't so you could eat everything. Though personally I think Mia was out of her gourd this morning. She musta really needed to get away from you crazy maniacs." Jay'a took a strawberry.

Kento made a face. "Ew. Pickles and strawberries?"

"Hey now, do I harass you about your eating habits? No. I think I'm the only one in the house who doesn't. So shutchyer mouth." Kento shrugged. "Anyhoo," Jay'a continued and stood up, "I need to see Shiane and Rowen and then I think we'll need a house meeting if any work is going to be done."

"Where are Shi and Ro?"

"Ro should be doing laundry and Shi should be vacuuming down here."

"I haven't heard a vacuum at all. Try the library."

"Good call. Thanks for the tip." Jay'a left the kitchen and made her way down the hall to the library. She opened the door a crack and sure enough, there was Shiane leaning over a book. 

"Psstt! Shiane!" Jay'a whispered loudly. No response. Let's see... What would get her attention? Jay'a thought. A small, semi-evil smile appeared. "Hey Shiane! Sage wants to have kinky sex with you!" Nothing. Damn. Must be some book. Guess I'll have to do this the old fashioned way.

Jay'a crept in and snuck up behind Shiane. Hands poised, she eyed the girl's waist. And struck.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!" Shiane screamed and fell out of her chair. "Damn it Jay'a, you know I hate being tickled!" She jumped up and wrestled her best friend, who was laughing her ass off, to the floor.

"Aw, come on Shi, it was funny!"

"NO! No, it wasn't!"

"Well, how else was I s'posed to get your attention? I tried tellin' ya that Sage wanted to have kinky sex with you, but..."

Shiane rolled off her friend and sat up. "He does?"

Jay'a shrugged. "He might. He's been primping for two hours." Shiane raised an interested eyebrow. "Anyway," Jay'a continued, "no one else has done any work either. Come with me to check on Rowen."

"Okay."

The two went down to the basement and when they reached the bottom of the steps, they looked around for Rowen. There, in the corner by the washer and dryer, Rowen sat on the floor amidst strewn piles of laundry. Shirts, pants, socks, lay everywhere. Underthings - specifically Mia and Shiane's underthings - lay in a messy circle around Rowen. Except Shiane's camouflage bra. That was sitting on Rowen's head.

"What the hell are you doing with my underwear, you blue haired freak?!"

Startled, Rowen jumped, sending several pairs of underwear flying. "Oh! Shiane, Jay'a, hi, I was just, um," Rowen picked up a bra but threw it down a again, "you see I -" He stopped suddenly and gave them a puppy dog face.

"Don't gimme that damned puppy dog face of yours, you little weirdo! Stay the hell outta my underwear!"

"But, but, but..."

"Yep," said Jay'a who'd been watching with amusement. "Definitely in need of a house meeting."

* * * * * * * *

Tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeettt!!!!

After having forcibly stopped Shiane from killing Rowen, and swiping a whistle from her office, Jay'a assembled the troops. "Move it along here kids! Hup, two, three, four! March, march, march, march!"

The six teens assembled to their pinstraight line. Jay'a faced them. "Okay kids. We've been here for," she checked her watch, "two and a half hours and virtually nothing has gotten done. Well, except a few of the upstairs rooms have been vacuumed. Thank you Cye." She golf-clapped for him and he bowed. 

"Yeah, woo hoo, alright Cye! Rock on!" Kento cheered loudly.

"Anyhoo," Jay'a continued, "a redistribution of jobs is needed." She picked up her notebook. "Now, according to my notes here –"

"Those aren't notes!" Kento interrupted.

"But Kento, if these are notes, then you scrubbed the kitchen floor with a toothbrush, 'member?"

"Huh? Oh - oh yeah! Yeah, that's right. She's got notes on us all!" he said pointing to Sage. "So you better watch out."

"Me?! You left the kitchen in a worse mess than you found it!"

"Chitlen!" Jay'a tossed the notebook down and stood at the end of the line. She faced Rowen. "You," she said, "will be dusting."

"I hate dusting."

"Tough darts." She moved on. "Sage. You'll be vacuuming."

"I don't like vacuuming."

"Deal. Ryo. You'll be doing laundry."

Ryo's eyes grew wide. "I - I can't do laundry."

"Too bad. Kento. You'll be cleaning the bathrooms."

"But I liked my job in the kitchen."

"You'll live. Cye and Shiane. You'll both be in the kitchen. Oh yeah, and as long as you're here and before I forget, Rowen I believe this is yours." Jay'a pulled his yoroi out of her pocket and handed it to him. 

"Hey, my yoroi. But why do you have it?"

"I was holding it. For safe keeping."

"Why?"

Jay'a stole a quick glance at Cye. "I don't think ya wanna know, bud. Okay," she clapped her hands, "everyone set?" They nodded. "Scatter!"

The group heaved a collective sigh and trudged off to their new respective jobs. Except Ryo. "Now what's the problem?" Jay'a asked.

"I can't do laundry."

"Sure ya can. You just –"

"Aaaaiiieeeee!!!"

"Cye must've found the kitchen," Jay'a noted. Ryo grinned and nodded. "Anyway, just follow the directions on the washing machine."

"Oh, I can wash clothes. Just not... certain... clothes."

Jay'a blinked a few times and then broke into a slow grin. "Ah. I see. Tell ya what. I'll take care of the feminine underthings if you do everything else."

"Deal."

Jay'a and Ryo headed for the basement and sorted out the underthings, loaded them up, and turned on the machine. They sat and waited. After a few minutes, Ryo turned to Jay'a. "Are washing machines supposed to make that weird churning noise?"

"Well, yeah, sorta," she said as she turned to look. "Ahhh! It's over flowing soap bubbles!"

"Shit!"

Doing their best to subdue the onslaught, Jay'a finally had to unplug the machine. "Ryo, you used too much soap."

"No, I didn't! You watched me!"

"That... is a very good point." Jay'a thought. "Oh crap. Rowen musta used too much soap and then left it in there." She surveyed the basement and laughed the mildly tired and frustrated laugh. "It's such a mess in here." The basement was a virtual sea of bubbles.

"What are we gonna do?"

"I dunno."

"Come on! I thought you were the 'responsible' one!"

"Uh uh, not me. And I saw that look on your face this morning Ryo-Pyro." She sighed. "I guess we start cleaning up."

~meanwhile in the kitchen~

"We took care of the food pretty fast," Shiane said.

"Of course. We had to throw most of it out. I can't believe Kento." Cye sighed. "I suppose it's just dishes then."

"I hate doing dishes."

~in the basement~

Fffooompf

Ryo and Jay'a looked up at each other. "Did you hear that?" Jay'a asked.

"Uh huh."

"That didn't sound good."

"Uh uh."

"I better check it out."

"Uh huh."

Jay'a blinked. "Right. Stay here."

Jay'a ran all the way to the upstairs and headed for the bathroom. "Kento?" She opened the door to see Kento whacking at something with a towel. It was a small fire eating up the bathroom rug. "Kento!"

"It's not my fault! It's not my fault!"

The two of them finally got the fire out. "Kento, what happened?"

He took a deep breath. "Sage left his candle burning, an' I was playin' with the hair spray, an' the candle flared, an' it scared me, an' I accidentally knocked it over, an' now the bathroom's torched."

Jay'a smacked herself in the forehead a few times. "Oh my God."

"I'm sorry. It's really messy now."

Jay'a rolled her eyes. "You should see the basement," she muttered.

"What?"

"Nevermind."

~kitchen~

"Cye, I have a plan."

"Uh oh."

"You have the Torrent armor whose element is water, right?"

"Right."

"And I have the Nimbus armor whose element is wind, right?"

"Right."

"Water, wind. Wash, dry."

A big grin spread over Cye's face. "I like."

~bathroom~

"Okay Kento, I'll help ya get started cleaning up."

Crrrraaaaaaassssshhh

Jay'a closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Kento, did you hear that?"

"Uh huh."

Jay'a smacked herself in the forehead again. "Grrrr. Stay here."

Jay'a ran down the stairs to the living room. "Oh my God! Rowen!" Rowen was curled up in a ball on the floor. Next to him a chair was overturned and a lamp was broken. She knelt next to him and helped him sit up. "What happened?!"

"Well, I was *yawn* see, okay, here's what happened. I was doin' laundry, right, an' I got bored so I ate a pixie stick –"

"Yeah, I noticed you were unusually energetic for it being noon - whoa, whoa, wait a minute, where did you get a pixie stick?"

"It was just a mini one!"

"Which wasn't really the question that I asked," Jay'a said to no one in particular. "Go on."

"An' then I was dusting, an' I was in my bubble getting the top when it wore off, an' I fell asleep, an' I crashed, an' now I hurt."

Jay'a observed the broken porcelain lamp. "Jeez, this place is gonna be more of a mess than when we started."

"It's just the living room."

Jay'a snorted. "You haven't seen the basement and bathroom."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

~kitchen~

"We'll need our armors for this," Cye said.

"Good call. I'll go first. Armor of Nimbus! Dao Meiyo!" _{honor}_

"Armor of Torrent! Dao Shin!"

"Cool," Shiane said after Cye had finished. "Now, how exactly are we gonna do this?"

~living room~

"Jay'a?"

"Yes Rowen?"

"Do I have a bump on my head?"

Jay'a felt around through Rowen's thick blue hair. "Yep. You pretty well did yourself in."

Bang!!

"Rowen, did you hear that?"

"Uh huh."

"This is getting really old."

"How's that?"

"You stay here."

Jay'a ran back up the stairs to Mia's computer room. Without bothering to knock, she went right in and walked straight into a cloud of dust. She started coughing. "Sage? Are you in here?"

"Uh huh," he whimpered.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh uh."

Finally Jay'a could see him as the dust began to settle. "What happened?" Damn, this is getting old, she thought.

"It back fired!"

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm dirty!"

Jay'a looked him over as she tried to hide a small grin. "Yeah. Yeah ya are kinda... dirty." Sage's whole front side was completely gray from dust. Jay'a wasn't even sure what colors his clothes were.

"The rest of the room doesn't look so hot either," Sage commented.

"You haven't seen the - oh nevermind."

"What?"

*Sigh* "Nevermind."

~kitchen~

"Super Wave Smasher!"

"Divine Winds Sing!"

~computer room~

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!!!

"Did you hear that?" Sage asked.

"Hey, that's my line. Forget it," she added, cutting off Sage's question. "You stay here."

"Oh yeah, as if I'd go anywhere looking like this."

Jay'a walked down the stairs headed for the kitchen. "Up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs. Jeez, I'm runnin' a frickin' marathon today." 

She walked into the kitchen to see Shiane and Cye standing at the back of the kitchen, their arms and legs spread wide, in front of the... lawn? Jay'a spoke slowly. "Uhhhhh... I really don't want to know, but... what are you doing?"

"We're, um, stretching," Shiane said. "Cleaning really cramps you up."

"I see. Guys? Where's the wall?"

"What wall?"

"The one that really should be behind you."

"Oh! Of course! That wall!" Shiane said. "Well, ya see it's –" 

"Invisible!" Cye threw in and Shiane smacked him in the back of the head. "Ow."

"See, it's a hologram," Shiane explained.

"Oh! A hologram," Jay'a said. "How... nice. Isn't that where the kitchen sink used to be?"

"Um, maybe."

"Right. So. Hologram. That's a nice breeze you have coming through your hologram."

"It's very realistic."

"Uh huh. I suppose that's also why there's a bird flying through to the living room now, yes?"

Cye and Shiane exchanged a glance. Cye broke first. "Okay! We didn't wanna do dishes so we used our armor powers - water, wind, wash, dry - and we sorta blew out the wall."

"Sorta blew out the wall?! I'd say you definitely blew out the wall!" Jay'a smacked herself in the head a few more times. "Of all the people in this house I would expect NOT to do something this stupid. What have you two got to say for yourselves?"

"Well, um, maybe she won't notice," Cye said quietly.

Jay'a turned and gave a half-crazed look to Shiane, who shrugged. "Right. Sure. Like, maybe she won't notice the sea of bubbles on her basement floor. Maybe," she continued, her voice rising in pitch, speed, and intensity, "she won't notice her torched bathroom. Maybe she won't notice the broken lamp in the living room. Maybe she won't notice her computer room covered in dust because the vacuum cleaner back fired because YOU," she pointed at Cye, "sucked up too much crap! Yeah! Right! Sure! Maybe she won't notice the BIG HOLE in her kitchen!!!!"

"Are you having a bad day?" Shiane asked.

* * * * * * * *

Mia sighed as she came home. The guys could be such a handful sometimes. She was glad she'd gotten a good day vacation from them today. And hey, the house might even actually be clean. 

She walked into the living room to see Ryo curled up on one end of the couch, Rowen curled up on the other. Kento sat in the middle fanning himself, and Sage sat in a chair coughing slightly and looking a little... grayer?... than usual. Shiane and Cye were on the floor staring at a blank T.V. screen. Jay'a had apparently left. Mia shook her head at them. "I... just... live here." 

No one moved. Mia shrugged. "I'm going into the kitchen to get something to eat guys," she said, and left. 

After a moment, it registered. Cye and Shiane turned to each other with pure looks of panic and terror. "The kitchen? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

***************

Shiane here! Well, there you go everyone! Hope you liked it! Here's some bad news for ya'll though. I have to go away for the summer so it may be a while before we can get a lot of updates to all of you. We're going to try our darndest though! So keep supporting us and we'll find a way to keep you entertained!


End file.
